Captain reported receiving different altitude assignments from ATC after a frequency change.

Attributes
ACN	1711886
Time
Date	201912
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	LGA.Airport
State Reference	NY
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Operating Under FAR Part	Other unknown
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Route In Use	SID LA GUARDIA FIVE
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Cleared for laguardia 5 departure and flew initial heading 040 till 2.5NM then heading 180 and cleared to climb via; initially climbing to 5;000. Departure controller then assigned us to climb to 8;000 and turn to heading 020. Next the departure controller told us proceed direct to jfk and climb to 16;000. Lga 5 whitestone climb was not available in the FMS to load. Pilot not flying (PNF) was assigned 16;000; he read back 16;000. Pilot flying confirmed 16;000. After passing 12;600 a different controller notified us the assignment was 12;000ft. PNF stated the prior controller issued 16;000 to ATC and inquired if the error was ours or theirs. The controller didn't answer the question he said it wasn't a problem and could do 16;000ft. We read back selected and confirmed this. We climbed as instructed; seemed like a controller mismatch on controller handoffs. We immediately leveled and responded when asked.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Captain reported receiving different altitude assignments from ATC after a frequency change.

Narrative: Cleared for LaGuardia 5 Departure and flew initial heading 040 till 2.5NM then heading 180 and cleared to climb via; initially climbing to 5;000. Departure controller then assigned us to climb to 8;000 and turn to heading 020. Next the Departure controller told us proceed direct to JFK and climb to 16;000. LGA 5 Whitestone climb was not available in the FMS to load. Pilot not Flying (PNF) was assigned 16;000; he read back 16;000. Pilot Flying confirmed 16;000. After passing 12;600 a different controller notified us the assignment was 12;000ft. PNF stated the prior controller issued 16;000 to ATC and inquired if the error was ours or theirs. The controller didn't answer the question he said it wasn't a problem and could do 16;000ft. We read back selected and confirmed this. We climbed as instructed; seemed like a controller mismatch on controller handoffs. We immediately leveled and responded when asked.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.